Plymouth Whitemarsh teacher to be honored

By For The Times Herald, Press release from Colonial School District

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

WHITEMARSH — Plymouth Whitemarsh High School teacher James Carr will be honored by the Montgomery County Advisory Council to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission at the organization’s annual Yaffe-Smith Civil Rights Awards ceremony on May 23. Carr will be one of eight individuals recognized for their contribution to the promotion of goodwill, equal opportunity and human rights for all in Montgomery County.

Carr received the Outstanding High School Faculty Advisor Award in 2002 and 2005, and the Spirit of Friendship Award in 2007 for his work with Best Buddies, an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. For 10 years, he volunteered to lead the PWHS chapter of the organization, which at one time was the largest in Pennsylvania.

Carr also plays an integral role in PWHS’s ongoing designation as a “No Place for Hate” school. He was selected by the Philadelphia Chapter of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to be educated in the Echoes and Reflections curriculum, a leading education program on the Holocaust. Carr injects information from the program into his Advanced Placement European History and Western Civilization Honors classes.

Carr has worked with the ADL’s Peer Training Program at PWHS since 2006 and is now the program director.

In the late 1990s, Carr developed a curriculum for the PWHS Social Studies department that centers on activities for improving self-esteem and communication, dealing with conflict and bullying, understanding others’ points of view, collaborative problem solving, making the peace, violence prevention, and more. At times, his students have developed pen pal relationships with students in the Colonial School District’s elementary schools to help spread positive messages related to those topics.

“Jim Carr is as good a person as you could hope to meet,” said PWHS Activities Director Charles Forster, who nominated Carr for the honor. “The fact that he is an outstanding educator is secondary to his quality as an exemplary role model for students and others to emulate. He is well deserving of this honor.”

Outside of school, Carr has been a youth baseball and soccer coach and official in the Whitpain Recreation Association for a number of years. He and his wife Megan have four young boys.